12 Rules for Life

12-Rules-for-Life

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is a 2018 self-help book by Canadian clinical psychologist and psychology professor Jordan Peterson.

The book includes abstract ethical principles about life influenced by and based on biology, literature, religion, myths, clinical experience and scientific research.

It is written in a more accessible style than his previous academic book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (1999).

The book grew out of Peterson's hobby of answering questions posted on Quora, the one being "What are the most valuable things everyone should know?" and his answer included 40 rules.

Some of these quotes were used by his former student Gregg Hurwitzin the novel Orphan X. Peterson stated it "isn't only written for other people. It's a warning to me".

The book is divided into chapters with each title representing a specific rule for life explained in an essay. The founding idea is that "suffering is built into the structure of being," but although it can be unbearable, people have a choice either to withdraw, which is a "suicidal gesture", or to face and transcend it.

However, living in a world of chaos and order,each human being has "darkness" which can "turn them into the monsters they're capable of being" to satisfy their dark impulses in right situations. The scientific experiments like Invisible Gorilla Test show that perception is adjusted to aims, and it is better to seek meaning rather than happiness.


Peterson noted that "it's all very well to think the meaning of life is happiness, but what happens when you're unhappy? Happiness is a great side effect.

When it comes, accept it gratefully. But it's fleeting and unpredictable. It's not something to aim at – because it's not an aim. And if happiness is the purpose of life, what happens when you're unhappy? Then you're a failure".

Author: Jordan B Peterson.

Title: 12 Rules for Life.

Language: English.

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